NONE of these things interests me whatsoever. So there was no benefit to me to have this “upgrade” that killed my web sites for hours.

In related news, after meeting with the Rackspace team this week, I am trying out MOSSO. From the MOSSO site:

The Hosting Cloud is advanced technology made extremely simple. The applications you load on the Hosting Cloud immediately and automatically inherit clustered processing, load-balancing, and redundant storage. The moment you upload an application, it’s set to scale across an entire fleet of computers. There are no devices to think about or servers to configure. You don’t install an operating system, you simply select one. You don’t administer the underlying systems, you develop your own unique applications.

In fact, we built the Hosting Cloud to meet a unique set of goals designed to make the process of web development faster and easier:

It had to be “device-less.” There are no servers, VPSes, operating systems, or devices for you to setup and configure. Simply upload your application, and you’re off and going.

It had to scale automatically. It’s hard to predict when you’ll need to scale quickly, and really, you shouldn’t have to. Because clustering is built right in, the processing powering your application simply surges when your traffic surges.

It had to be flexible. Who are we to pick the technologies you use? We chose a far better approach: to build best-practice environments for lots of technology, so you can choose the framework that best fits your needs.

It had to be easy. You can launch a new application with almost no setup. Just use our online software to provide the domain where your site or application will live and then pick the technologies you want to power it. The entire process takes about five minutes. We even do some DNS magic so you can get started before your domain name fully migrates.

It could never be obsolete. Most importantly, the Hosting Cloud is a dynamic environment where you are automatically provided upgrades, patches, and even new technologies without any effort or migration on your part. That’s a sure cure for server obsolesce and a welcome change if your current provider charges you month after month for an aging setup they racked a year ago.

MOSSO costs a bit more than my current server – about twice, actually. But for the scalability, ease of setup and management, and the Fanatical Rackspace Support (REAL PEOPLE ANSWER THE PHONE!) I think it may just prove to be worth the added cost.

I won’t be moving my main domains to MOSSO to start with. As I learn about the platform more, and build up a sense of security with it, I may move everything to MOSSO.

I certainly would have paid the extra $50 today to not be down for 6+ hours!